Will Gridlock Prevail?

There is plenty of talk about the looming Fiscal Cliff, but like so many other downside risks in this market, investors are not positioned for it as they appear convinced that it won't be allowed to happen or some compromise will occur. We remain on the side of the fence where nothing will occur; no compromise reached, until the governement is 'forced' by the market to take action - by some asset value plunge that scares then into scramble mode. Unfortunately, as these two simple charts from Morgan Stanley highlight, gridlock appears guaranteed (but then again, with a market economy at multi-year highs the incumbents remain dominant).

Obama is dominant - as markets go higher...

with Congressional control probabilities leaking a little but still dominated by Republicans holding both...

The ideal Presidential candidate needs to be an expert in the following fields:

Economics

Military operations

Transport

Infrastructure

Healthcare

International Negotiations

International Law

Philosophy

In this respect, both Barack H. Obama and Willard Milton Romney are ideal candidates for the role of President of the Unite States. Ron Paul, on the other hand, fails miserably on all accounts, having been discredited numerous times by the media, top economists and other members of congress. It comes as no surprise to me that Ron Paul was completely rejected by the American people - Ron Paul lacked credibility due to his outrageous views on the economy, the Federal Reserve and foreign policy. Now that the field has been cleared for the two most credible candidates, the real race for President of the United States can begin.

This euro crisis blows my mind. Have you ever had a real crisis in your life, or in your family? In the middle of this crisis has your Dad ever stood up and said "HEY...HEEEY!!! EVERYONE SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE. LISTEN LET'S GO ON VACATION FOR A MONTH AND PICK THIS UP WHEN WE COME BACK....sound good?"

As I've been saying for a year now this fall/winter will be an utter disaster politically and fiscally.

Before they even deal with the "cliff" they have to deal with the ceiling which is fast approaching. I do think Timmy G is trying every trick in the book to stave it off( see Freddie and Fannie move last week).

What they did with the debt ceiling last time was brilliant. They made a huge issue out of it. They brought it right to the last second....and then they raised it. Problem solved. No reprecussions. When it comes around this time there will be no panic. Just calls on both sides to raise it so we can get on with the real issues at hand.

Do they want to get Obama out? Sure, a good portion do, but not the majority.

Remember, the banks have GROWN 21%, and corporate profits are at their highest (although waning).....but they are still making money. The only fear they have is Obama will go "rogue" in the 2nd term freeroll and start becoming more populist....but I doubt that.

Controlled dissent is better than riots in the streets. Riots in the streets aren't good for the market. TPTB can't control EVERYTHING.

A Romney presidency will spur on unrest that will make Occupy Wall Street and the London Riots look like a JPM Democratic fundraiser at Morton's.

Plus, Wall St can just wait til 2016, when a Republican gets elected, anyways. I call it "the Great White Backlash" of 2016, when basically white voters do what the young/minority vote did in 2008 in return for having a black man in office for the last 8 years.

Bottom line is that the Apartheid State of Israel wants Romney because they can easily get the US to fight more wars for them... With an Obama 2nd term, they're not so sure...

This isn't about nukes in Iran (for the ASOI), it's about destroying the largest military in the region (so that the ASOI can continue to be the biggest bully on the block in the region & continue to steal land from the Palestinians without being hassled for it)... This already worked successfull by getting Iraq out of the picture, now Iran is in the crosshairs...

This election [Obama/Romney], wouldn't even be close if there weren't significant influence & money being poured in by wealthy & strategic Israeli interests, once again, doing everything they can to hijack everything that goes on in the United States... In an unprecedented move, Romney has already been in Israel & met with Netanyahu & PUBLICLY declared that he'd do whatever was needed...

~~~

It's likely that Ron Paul supporters are aware of this crosscurrent dynamic... It's likely that Romney supporters are ignorant to this (& instead, simply follow the party line wherever it leads them)... Obama supporters probably don't have a clue about anything (half are still stuck in the 'Obama will pay for my gas & mortgage' paradigm)...

If Ron Paul supporters come to the final conclusion that, conscience or not, it is impossible for Ron Paul to win, they'd be wise to consider the above scenario before either abstaining from voting, or supporting either of the other two candidates... My gut feeling is that more Ron Paul supporters would come down on the side of Obama in that case (but I could be wrong)...

If having an issue with a state that is in a perpetual state of warmongering, practices "Apartheid", and, though an elaborate spy network, can't keep themselves out of the affairs of every square foot of the planet earth... (without being called on ANY of the aforementioned because of a highly controlled network of banking interests, media coercion & propaganda, political action activists, & disinformation specialists)...

If the label you've chosen for me is equal to everything that I've identified above... Then I stand accused...

Me?... I didn't wake up one morning, felt kind of bored, and then arbitrarily decided to become hostile towards a certain clan... Instead ~ over time (especially after understanding the TRUTH about 9/11), I tried to understand what was going on and who were the primary players in the things that plague the world right now... I stubled on the idea that, at present, ME conflict is front & center... I ask myself if there might be a solution to that... My instincts tell me that if Israel would simply STAND DOWN, then we might begin to move in the right direction... But the Apartheid state of Israel won't do that, it wants to make EVERYONE afraid of it's personal boogeyman (& have THEM foot the bill for it while they're at it)...

So... If you want to test the 'Jew hating troll' status of francis_sawyer, let's try an experiment... STAND DOWN... I think you'd quickly find that I would become allied to that cause...

Good job JTG. We have to speak truth to these morons that want Muslims to have 100% of the Mideast, instead of the 99.9% they already have. As they teach their children that Jews are descended from pigs, and drink kids' blood etc. Yea, its the Jews fault.

You are not wrong. I don' tknow whether my state will allow for a Ron Paul write-in in November. If it does, then I'll vote Ron Paul. If not, however, I'll vote for O'Bama for precisely the reason you have pointed out, and so will all the RP supporters I know--and I know a lot. (I've been voting & working for RP since 1988. I was his guest at a private recption on the 6th of this month. I am an RP delegate to Tampa. I know a LOT of Paulistas.) We have talked it over, and we think that it's best to keep Romney out. And secondarily, another four years of O'Bama might hasten the much-needed reset, by hastening the demise of the whole rotten structure.

this "fiscal cliff" issue is complete bullshit.............the country has long gone over the cliff.......and no compromise, no action can fix the issues.....only the laws of the universe will get the country back on track.............destruction and then rebirth................like the cells in your body that are destroyed so that new ones can grow........... like wildfires that allow for seedlings to sprout...like hurricanes that cleanse and rebalance natural habitats.... like stellar explosions that fuel the birth of new planets ........breakdown must occur before growth and expansion continue.......the hubris of mankind....believing they are above the basic rules of how the world works..........only a grand reset, only a crisis that allows the excess of consumption, debt, credit, entitlements to be cleared can allow for the country to return to its roots and allow it to heal.............................

new economic growth will be Net linked, and not necessarily in physical objects. We could imagine a whole economy based on holograms and holographically built virtual cities and companies. Which produce goods that don't exist until they are 3D printed locally. This whole field can open up a whole new set of industries which will require much less RM usage. Recycling of 3D printed material will be easier to manage, to reconvert those same objects once their life cycle ends into other ones, more modern.

Imagine visiting holographically created cities that give you the same sensation as if you were there physically.

We are heading to a new age of creativity. By force of things; as always, necessity being the mother of invention.